You're safe now
by ammstar11
Summary: Summer is winding to a close and Nico and Will decide to take a trip into the city. While there they come across a new half-blood under attack. They take the little girl back to camp with them where she'll be safe. She has attached herself to Nico and won't let go. Nico has taken to being the protective big brother for her. Solangelo and my own OC
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own any of the Percy Jackson character's, Emily is my OC**

Nico and Will are walking around New York it's been a while since Nico's been to the city and Will hasn't left camp for so long he was beginning to go stir-crazy so he had asked Nico if he would go with him into the city for the day just for the fun of it, Chiron had given the okay and Jules-Albert had been summoned by Nico to give them a ride into the city, although Will didn't like Nico to use his "underworld-y "powers as he liked to call them he was kind of impressed by the whole zombie chauffer thing.

They had gone shopping (at Wills insistence that Nico needed new clothes that weren't black) they had put their bags in the car with Jules-Albert while they went for lunch at a sidewalk café where they ate outside because Will had wanted to enjoy the beautiful weather. After lunch they had gone for a walk when suddenly Nico felt strong monster signatures nearby he stopped at the entrance to an alley and tried to home in on the monsters he had sensed Will was standing next to him, suddenly Nico pin pointed the location of the monsters he ran into the alley and drew his sword, Will was close behind him, they ran through winding alley ways until they spotted a small group of wild hell hounds surrounding something - no not something, someone- it was a little girl. She had light brown hair and green eyes, she was wearing a yellow sun dress with flowers on it and she looked terrified.

Without hesitation Nico ran forward and cut down the first hell hound and jumped in front of the little girl he then slashed his sword and took down another two as they tried to lunge at him finally he stabbed the last one between the eyes when it exploded into dust he turned to the little girl to make sure she was okay. He knelt down before her so that she could look him in the eye, she had tears falling down her face but didn't make a sound "Hey, it's okay" he said in a soft voice "the scary things are gone now, you're safe." More tears fell from her eyes but she still didn't make a sound so Nico tried talking again "My name is Nico, I fight monsters like those, have you seen monsters before?"

She nodded, okay so she was likely a demigod but what? Greek? Roman? Will walked up beside Nico a little out of breath "how can you run so fast?" he huffed out, he looked down at the little girl, she seemed scared or shy because she grabbed onto Nico's sleeve as she looked at Will. "It's okay, this is my friend Will, and he won't hurt you. He's really nice." But she didn't seem to want to let go of his sleeve. Will smiled at the girl "Hi, I'm Will and I'm a doctor are you hurt anywhere?" She looked at him for a moment before showing him a large scrape on her right knee Will bent down to get a good look at it, then he reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water, some salve, and a Band-Aid. He washed out the scrape and put some salve and the Band-Aid on it "There all better." he said with a friendly smile, but the little girl still refused to let go of Nico "I think she's a demigod." he told Will.

Before they could say anything else a light shone over her head it was the mark of Demeter, the girl had just been claimed. "Well that settles that, now what?" Will asked "should we figure out where she lives and go talk to her family?" When she heard this, the little girl pulled on Nico's arm to get his attention he looked down at her she had tears in her eyes again and was shaking her heard no in a silent plea "It looks like she doesn't want to go home, maybe she ran away." Nico said as he looked at her, she slowly nodded, he spoke to her in a gentle tone "Was it the monsters?" she nodded again. Whatever had happened to make this little girl run away it had to be really scary.

"We should take her back to camp with us and talk to Chiron, he'll be able to help." He looked her in the eye "Would you like to come with us? No scary monsters can get you there, you'll be safe." Instead of a verbal response she wrapped her arms around his neck in a very strong grip and would not let go. "It looks like she's taken a liking to you." Will said sounding very amused. With no other choice Nico picked up the little girl and sighed, "Let's get back to the street and I'll call Jules-Albert, then we'll head back to camp." When they got to the street Nico had summoned Jules-Albert to them and they were on their way, the girl still clung to Nico and wouldn't let go. Nico hoped they wouldn't get stopped by the mortal police, the mist could cover for Jules-Albert but not for a child not having a seatbelt on or even being in an actual seat for that matter, but everything went smoothly and soon enough they were back at camp.

Nico had his hands full so Will grabbed the bags from the car before Nico dismissed Jules-Albert and thanking him for the ride, you would think the whole zombie driver thing would have been enough to scare the little girl into clinging to Will instead but she seemed determined to not let go of Nico no matter what.

As they walked into camp they were greeted by Jason Grace "Hey Nico, Will, how was your day in the city? We weren't expecting you back so s-"He broke off when he noticed the little girl in Nico's arms. Will answered his unasked question "We ran into a pack of hell hounds, they had this little girl surrounded in an alley, Nico took all four of them out himself. We don't know her name but she was claimed by Demeter so we brought her back herewith us. She's taken a real liking to Nico, she hasn't let go of him since we found her." Jason just stared in wonder.

Nico shifted his weight from foot to foot "we should really go talk to Chiron, could you maybe go find Katie or something since we already know what cabin she belongs in?" Jason's brain kicked in again "Uh yeah, sure thing." With that he ran off to look for Katie the head of the Demeter cabin. Nico and the girl headed toward the big house while Will ran to put their things away in the cabins, they met back up at the big house and found Chiron in his wheel chair on the front porch, when he saw them he raised a questioning eyebrow "We found a new half-blood while we were out, she was being attacked by hellhounds, can we go inside to talk?" Nico let out in one breath, his arms were getting tired.

Chiron nodded and stepped out of his magic wheelchair so that he was full centaur again, they went inside to the rec room and Nico sat on one of the couches the little girl still clinging to him but now sitting on his lap as she stared in wonder at the half man/ half horse standing on the other side of the ping pong table. Will sat down beside Nico on the couch and they told Chiron about detecting monsters gathered and the fight and the girl being claimed, they had just gotten to that part when Katie came in she stood nearby and listened as they told them the part about when they had mentioned finding the girls family and she got scared and they found out that she had run away though she didn't speak so they didn't know much. "I have an idea." Katie said then she left the room and came back moments later with a note pad and pencil crayons she knelt down in front of Nico and the little girl.

"Hi there sweetie, my names Katie, I'm your big sister, do you know your name?" the little girl nodded "Do you know how to spell your name?" Katie asked, and again the little girl nodded "Could you spell your name for me?" Katie held out the note pad and pencil crayons the little girl let go of Nico but stayed seated in his lap and started writing in big letters E-M-I-L-Y Katie smiled "Emily is such a pretty name, how old are you Emily?" Emily held up both hands showing that she was six. "Well at least we now know her name." Will said, he watched as Emily took more pencil crayons out and started drawing a picture.

Katie got up and went over to talk to Chiron and Will got up to join them "Do you think she could be mute?" Katie asked "It could just be an effect from shock, maybe given time and she starts feeling safe she may start to speak." Will hoped so, he wondered what could have caused Emily to be unable to speak, the poor girl. "I'll go make sure there's a place for her in the cabin" Katie said, before leaving she went back to where Emily was sitting with Nico she had given him a pencil crayon and now they were drawing a picture together Katie looked somewhere between completely shocked and totally in awe. "Wow Nico, I didn't know you could draw so well."

Nico looked a little embarrassed "Hazel's been teaching me." He didn't look up from the page but Emily looked really pleased, Will got curious so he walked over to see what they were doing, what he saw was an amazing picture of flowers likely drawn by Nico and colored in by Emily, it was really well done, he hadn't known Nico could draw either, he wondered what else he still didn't know about Nico.

"Well now that we have things figured out, why don't you two give little Emily a tour of the camp?" asked Chiron, Nico looked at Will "I guess."

 **This is something I came up with before the Trials of Apollo came out, I didn't even know about Meg at the time so cool how that worked out.**

 **This will have multipul chapters but no set schedual so stay tuned!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2

Nico helped Emily pack up the pencil crayons and notepad to take with them and held her hand as they walked out of the big house. At least he didn't have to carry her anymore but she still refused to leave his side. Will couldn't help thinking how cute it was to see Nico taking care of a small child. People would pause and stare as they past, it wasn't odd to see Will and Nico together and Nico was somewhat social but only really with a few people. What was odd was to see a small child clinging to him. Normally it was Will that the younger campers stuck to.

Nico just ignored the obvious staring and walked towards the strawberry fields. Emily looked around with wide curious eyes as they walked through camp. It was a lot to take in your first time there. When they got to the fields her little face lit up with joy as she saw all of the berries growing. They sat at the edge of the field and Will turned to Nico with a grin. "The strawberry fields huh?" Nico shrugged "I figured it would be the best place to go, she is a child of Demeter and this seemed like the least intimidating place for someone who had been really shaken up." Will felt so proud of Nico and his compassion.

Emily sat down and flipped to a new page in the notepad and shook Nico's arm and held up the box of pencil crayons. Nico gave her a small smile and started drawing strawberries while Emily colored them in with all colors of the rainbow. She held a pink pencil crayon up for Will he took it and tried to draw a few strawberries on the corner of the page closest to him. When the picture was finished they all signed their names at the top of the page. Emily had a huge grin as she looked at the finished drawing like it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and it made Will's heart swell. He didn't know what the poor girl had been through but she was so happy now and she seemed to help Nico open up more and not seem so lost in his own head. Will wondered if the two of them were saving each other in a way.

They sat quietly for a while just enjoying the sunshine, cool breeze and smell of sweet strawberries. Then the conch shell sounded signaling that it was time for dinner so they packed up and headed towards the dinning pavilion with the other campers. As they reached the pavilion they walked over to the Demeter table and were greeted by Katie. "Hey guys, hello there Emily these are your brothers and sisters." She gestured to the rest of the table. Everyone was smiling warmly at Emily but she grabbed onto Nico's sleeve and his behind his back. Will smiled and looked at the Demeter kids who looked slightly confused by this. "She's shy, we haven't been able to get her to let go of him since we found her." The Demeter kids nodded they could all understand how intimidating the first day at camp and meeting your siblings could be.

Nico turned and knelt down so that they were eye to eye "It's okay Emily, these guys are really nice and can teach you a lot, why don't you sit with them while you eat?" But she just shook her head and wrapped her arms around Nico's neck again. He sighed and stood up "I'll go talk to Chiron." And headed off, Will watched them leave then turned back to the Demeter table. "See what I mean?" then he headed over to his own table where his siblings were.

Nico approached Chiron with Emily held in his arms hers still wrapped tightly around his neck. "Uh Chiron, may I ask you something?" Chiron looked up from where he sat talking with Jason. "What can I do for you Nico?" he asked seeing Emily clinging to his neck he had a feeling he knew what it would be. "Emily isn't comfortable sitting at her table, and refuses to leave my side so I was wondering if you could make an exception on the seating rules so that she could sit at my table with me until she's ready to sit with her siblings at their table."

Chiron smiled and looked over at Jason "As it so happens that is just what we were just discussing." He stood up and addressed the rest of the campers seated. "I have an announcement to make, for the remainder of the summer you may sit wherever you like as so long as this doesn't get out of hand." The whole dinning pavilion erupted into cheers as people rose from their seats and went to sit with their friends.

Happy that he hadn't been asking too much Nico walked with Emily over to the Hades table and sat down with her in his lap because they were joined by Will, Jason, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth, and she was still a little shy. "So Nico who's your new friend?" Percy asked looking at Emily and smiling. She looked at each of the others a little nervously. "It's okay sweetie we're all friends here." Piper said in a soothing voice to help Emily relax. "Her name is Emily, we found her under attack when we went to the city today; she was claimed by Demeter right away." Will filled them in "She doesn't speak, we aren't sure if she is unable to or if it's just shock but since Nico was the one who saved her from the scary monsters she's latched herself to him and won't let go." They nodded "I know the feeling." Annabeth said, she must have seen a lot of herself in Emily, both of them having been so young when leaving home and finding themselves at camp.

As they all began their dinner Nico showed Emily how to fill her plate and cup with whatever she wanted, luckily you could just think what you wanted or this could be a bit of a problem, next they showed her how to make the offering to the gods and sat back down at the Hades table. To make Emily feel more comfortable they told funny stories from their many adventures and the time they spent at camp. They told her that not all monsters a bad or scary and that some of them were their friends. Percy told stories of his cyclops brother Tyson and his harpy girlfriend Ella, and the resident pet hell hound Mrs. O'Leary. Jason told stories about Venus, they told her about the Pegasus here at camp half-blood and the unicorns over at camp Jupiter. They told her that Cerberus likes to play fetch with a red rubber ball and that he was just like an oversized three headed puppy.

As they were finishing dinner they made plans to meet back up at the camp fire that night and all sit together while they roasted marshmallows, this made Emily really happy.

 **Hey guy's sorry if there's not enough dialog to this story, I'm not much for talking unless I'm obseesing over something then there's no shutting me up until I'm done or run out of air because I talk fast and loud when I'm really excited and most people stop listening to what I'm saying and just count how many breaths I take in 10 minutes.**

 **Let me know what you think of the story so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry that this took so long guys and it's a bit shorter but I hope you like it none the less, lot's of cuteness ahead.**

 **Ch. 3**

"I guess sitting close to the Demeter kids would be a good way to get Emily more comfortable to be around her siblings." Nico said to Will as they sat in the infirmary organizing supplies before the campfire. Emily sat next to Nico while he helped Will cut bandages and do other odd jobs as he had grown accustomed to doing since the beginning of the month when he was made to stay for three days of bedrest after the war. As before Emily was coloring in her notepad happily. "That sounds like a good idea. And the others will be sitting with us which will help her get used to more people here at camp."

Nico nodded, it helped to have people you knew around when in a new place. He thought back on the bittersweet memories of when he himself had first arrived at camp half-blood, though he had known a thing or two about what was happening thanks to his obsession with Mytho-magic, a card game based on Greek mythology. It had all been exciting for him to see that it was all real and he was living it, but poor Emily probably wouldn't see it that way. Where he had been ten (plus several decades) she was only six and likely knew nothing of this hidden world.

"It'll take time, but I'm sure Emily is going to have a great time here at camp. What do you think Emily?" Will asked giving her a big smile. She looked up when he spoke to her and smiled back. At least they were making some progress Nico thought. She still hadn't said anything but she loved to draw pictures and they had seen things like a dog that may have been hers, a park she might have played at, but they hadn't been able to figure out why she was a runaway. Nico wanted to help her but he wasn't sure how he could help, for now it was probably best to get her used to being with her siblings in the Demeter cabin here at camp so that she felt more at home here. He didn't want her to feel like she was alone like he had been, she had family here but until she was able to feel comfortable around them he was happy with being her stand in big brother.

Emily held up a new drawing for him to see, Nico set down the roll of tape he had been holding and took the paper to get a better look at it. The drawing was of three people, one was outlined in yellow, one was in black, and one was in pink and they were surrounded by green grass and red dots that he guessed must be strawberries, he smiled as he looked at the drawing and looked down at Emily to see her looking up at him waiting for him to say something about it. Nico passed the picture to Will for him to see "You drew us in the strawberry fields right?" he asked and she nodded enthusiastically with a big happy smile on her face.

Will looked at the drawing and smiled too, he looked up at Nico "You know what? This kind of looks like a family portrait, don't you think?" he laughed a bit when Nico's cheeks flushed red but Emily smiled at Will, apparently happy with his assessment. And Will laughed again "We go to the city to do some shopping and came back a family, maybe we should do this more often."

Nico felt like his face was on fire but he didn't hate the idea… not that he'd actually admit that out loud though.

…

Finally the time had come to head out to the campfire and Nico and Will packed things up before the three of them began walking together. Emily walked between them and at one point she reached up and held both of their hands, when they looked down at her she smiled back and started swinging their arms. Will laughed "You want us to swing you as we walk?" she nodded gleefully and swung their arms again "Okay sure." So then Will looked at Nico "Ready?" and he nodded.

"On the count of three, one… two… Three!" Nico counted and together they swung Emily up and gently placed her back on the ground, she looked so happy and seemed to be laughing though no sound came out, this worried Nico a bit but he was just glad that she was having fun. They did this three more times before reaching the campfire; there they sat close to the rest of the Demeter kids though Emily still sat in Nico's lap but no one felt any need to separate the two of them.

As they sat there waiting for the sing along to begin Katie turned to them and tried to talk with Emily, they ended up doodling together in the notebook. At one point Katie looked over at Nico and Will and smiled what seemed to be a knowing smile and they both blushed knowing which picture she was looking at right then "What a happy family you have there." There was a trace of teasing in her voice but nothing negative and when she sent a wink there way both boys could have rivaled the glow of the fire, and if the color of the flames happened to change just slightly no one said anything about it.

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess who's back with a brand you chap! Haha sorry I couldn't resist. Sorry this has taken so long and it will likely longer for another new one now that I have a new job and will working a lot but I will try to get back to my writing as much as I can.**

 **Ch. 4**

Emily had fallen asleep on Nico's lap about halfway through the sing along, she had leaned back and rested her head on his shoulder as she began to doze off and Nico had wrapped his arms around her protectively to make sure that she didn't slip as she finally fell asleep. Will glanced over at the two of them every now and then to see how things were going and couldn't stop the smile that made its way to his lips as he saw Nico holding the little girl while she slept as if his arms were a silent promise to her, _You're safe now_ they seemed to say and it was clear that Emily understood that as she slept on without a worry.

Others had glanced over at the two of them as well and everyone was thinking along the same lines; many of the campers had come from not so happy backgrounds and knew just how important it was to find that sense of security here at camp that made you feel like you belonged, many of the older kids that had known Nico before the Giant war knew that this was just as important for him as it was for the little girl sleeping now in his arms.

Will who was closer to Nico than most wasn't surprised at all to see how much and how quickly the son of Hades had grown to care about the newest camper. He already knew what kind of person Nico was and just how truly caring he was. Emily seemed to be able to pick up on that as well, that and the fact that Nico had saved her life it was clear that she looked up to him.

When it was time to head back to their cabins for the night Nico nudged Emily to wake her up so that she knew what was going on. She opened her eyes a bit but looked like she would nod off at any second once more. "Hey, it's bed time so you should go with Katie and the other Demeter kids." Nico said gently but Emily shook her head and clung tighter to him. Nico looked at the others for help.

Will feels lost on what to do as well until Katie suggests that they have a sleep over in the infirmary so that Emily doesn't feel uncomfortable, she stay with them while other kids go back to their cabin tonight that way Emily can get used to at least one of her siblings being around and maybe they could wane her dependence off of Nico. It seems like the best course of action so while the rest of the Demeter kids head back for the night the four of them head over to Chiron to ask permission to stay in the infirmary together. After explaining their plan and that it would be a good idea to have Will there in case she has a panic attack or something brought on by the stress of the day and how Nico can help with dreams Chiron agreed.

Together Chiron, Katy, Will, Nico, and Emily made their way over to the Big House where the infirmary was and Chiron helped them find some clothes for Emily to wear for the night, Nico had promised Emily that he would be right back and went back to the Hades cabin as fast as he could to change into pajamas for the night and got back in time to meet up with Will while Katie left to quickly change as well before coming back. Once they were all ready they began setting up the beds.

…

"Should we divide up the room? You know the whole boy girl thing in case anyone feels uncomfortable or whatever?" Katie asked as she looked around at the beds. Will shrugged. "I'm used to the whole co-ed thing back at the Apollo cabin. How about you guys?" Katie nodded. "Yeah I guess that goes the same for me." She looked at Nico, "How about you?" he didn't look up from where he was tucking Emily in after she had drifted off again. "If you're worried about me peeking at you or something then you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

Katie's brow creased as she tried to think what he meant by that but then something clicked and she made an "O" expression and shrugged. "Well okay, guess this will work just fine then. Nico can take the bed on the left and I'll take the one on the right, how about you Will?" she asked as she looked up at the son of Apollo and caught the way he was looking fondly at Nico. She shook her head and said quietly to herself, "Like I even needed to ask…" then loud enough for them to hear "Okay kiddies, bed time so get settled in and I'll see you in the morning unless anything happens between then and now. Good night." She was answered by two _Goodnight_ 's and Will switched off the lights.

…

Nico closed his eyes for a few moments as he focused on sending sweet dreams to Emily to help her sleep soundly. He had learned recently that since Hypnos resided in the Underworld he technically had the ability to tap into dreams; it also explained why he was able to traverse the dream scape so easily even if he was a son of the Big Three he still had more control in dreams than most others.

He opened his eyes once more and turned over onto his back and heard the sound of the girls even breathing as they slept soundly. "Hey Nico?" He turned his head and glanced in the direction of Will's voice. "Yeah?" he asked, not really sure what Will had to say. "Have you ever had a sleepover?" Nico was confused by the question. "Sleepover?" Was that like staying at New Rome? Or his father's palace in the Underworld? "You know, when you stay over at a friend's house and you sleep in the same room, usually you end up staying up late or possibly all night talking or playing games together." Will explained.

"Um no, I don't think I've ever done that before." He had lived in a dorm when he was still going to school after leaving the Lotus but that didn't seem like the same thing, maybe the closest thing to what Will described would be either staying on the Argo II or traveling with Reyna and Coach Hedge from the ancient lands though he spent much of that time sleeping or avoiding people.

"Why do you ask?" he heard Will chuckle a bit and his stomach fluttered a bit with those skeletal butterflies again. "Well this is like a sleepover, don't you think?" Nico thought about it for a moment and saw that Will had a point. "I guess." He turned over onto his side so that he could face Will even though he couldn't see him, he had a feeling Will was facing him as well. "This is nice, don't you think?" Will asked and Nico had to agree. "Yeah, it is." A small smile made its way to his lips. "I just wanted you to know I had a lot of fun hanging out with you today, I'm really glad that we decided to go into the city to go shopping today."

There was no missing the smile in his voice and Nico felt his own growing in return. "Me too." So much had happened today and it had all been thanks to Will suggesting that they go shopping. "I hope tomorrow turns out just as good." Will said with a yawn, it was clear he was trying to stay awake just to talk but sleep was getting to him now as well. "I do too, now get some sleep Solace. I'll see you in the morning, goodnight." Nico said fondness finding its way into his voice as he turned back to his back and closed his eyes. "Goodnight Nico." Will said before finally surrendering to sleep.

…

Katie lay on her bed listing to the two of them talk after waking to the sound of quiet voices. Used to having to tell her siblings to go back to sleep she was about the same to these two until she caught what they were saying, she smiled to herself and settled back in and went back to sleep.

 **Please let me know what you think so far.**


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